America’s obsessions with the mafia and mafia-style films have existed for decades. The ability for an audience to connect on a deep level with a character of shady morals and seedy behavior is a requirement for gangster films to be successful. Hollywood has been able to successfully take real life mobsters and make them larger than life on the big screen. Though not all mafia films created are taken directly from real life, most movies have some essence of reality buried within the plot. To understand this obsession with the mafia, it is necessary to understand the beginning of the Mafia’s presence in America.
Organized crime has been around since the 1880’s. It was not until the 1920’s that organized crime began to develop into a bigger problem. Following the victory of Allied Forces during World War I, more and more immigrants began to immigrate into the United States. Some of these immigrants would become the leaders of crime organizations. The “Noble Experiment” would also help organized crime to gain momentum. Criminals were able to provide the people with something they wanted, and with alcohol being illegal, they were able to make smuggling into a big business. The rise of organized crime began, due to the recent waves of immigrants from Europe, and also that the United States tried to limit the consumption of alcohol.
Gangs Across America
The definition of a gang is a group of people using a unique name and identifiable marks or symbols who claim a territory or turf as their own (Edgar 94). Gangs have been a part of American culture since the beginning of our nation. Starting with secret societies like the Free Masons and evolving into violent street gangs such as: the Crips or Bloods. The evolution of gangs has been fast and is rising quickly. People feared the gangs of the nineteenth century, but the gangs today pose a greater threat (Edgar 91).
Another common theme of this wildly intoxicated era was that of the gangsters. In the twenty-first century when the word gangster is uttered, often times images of minorities in baggy clothes comes to mind. However, when discussing the Prohibition Era the lives of gangsters are seen as much more glamorous, and none were more glamorous than that of the ultimate American gangster, Al “Scarface” Capone. Capone’s name brings to mind images of pinstripe suits, underground bars, bootleggers, flappers, and gun fights. His image embodies that of the Prohibition Era and his influence throughout society carries through it. Alphonse Capone is the ultimate American gangster.
now the story behind him. What made him to be the most feared gangster in the city of Chicago? How did this kid from a rough neighborhood and no money grow up to have $60,000,000? I’ve always been fascinated with organized crime but had never been taught anything in school about it. This report gave me the chance to explore something interesting and also educational. The more I researched Al Capone, the more I wanted to learn about him. He may look like an innocent Italian at a glance, but he has done a lot of crime in the city of Chicago.
If ever there was an incubator for crime it was the Italian Harlem tenements of the South Bronx. In one of those crowded dirty apartments, a young John Gotti seeked an impoverished existence with his parents and eleven sisters and brothers. His father rarely worked and then, only at menial jobs, risking the money that the family did have on gambling.
In conclusion, both the film and the movie identified the impact marginalization has on the gang lifestyle. The social disadvantages affect both the home and school environments, depriving young individuals from necessary resources and opportunities. As a result of their marginalization, these individuals unite to battle the constant struggle of gaining respect together, acting in delinquent ways to achieve it. The gang lifestyle as a whole, not only has a negative impact on the individual, but puts their family at risk as well. It is important to provide minority youth with adequate resources and education to help them avoid the gang lifestyle and provide them with a better chance of a more promising future.
Ever since I was a teenager, I partook in criminal activities. In the United States, I rose from a measly criminal, to a crime boss, eventually becoming the father of organized crime in the United States. My name is Charles “Lucky” Luciano, and this is my story.
Historically, gangs began to develop around the time frame of the 1970’s. Irish gangs have been known to be the first initial gang, followed by the Germans, Jewish, and Italians (Pacheco, 2010, p. 10). Gangs are larger in population and tend to be more prevalent in the United States, compared to other countries. In 2008, statistics showed that there were 20,000 active gangs and more than 1 million gang members in the United States (Pacheco, 2010, p. 12). According to Pacheco (2010) there are different types of gangs. Although these gangs are formed for individual purposes, broken up, they can form a multitude of different types of gangs. There are your traditional gangs (Crips, Bloods). Business, profit gangs, which are generated around financial gains. Hate group gangs, which their purpose is to target different ethnic groups, races or homosexuals. Copycat and delinquent social gangs, which seem to be the least relevant. Street gangs, which are prone to target younger individuals, but the actual ages of the gang members vary. Third generation gangs which are known as “terrorist”. Hybrid gangs are new to this generation, they could be considered the “hipster” of gangs. Then there are prison gangs. They are usually small in population and are structured along an individuals ethnicity (Pacheco, 2010, pp. 12-15). Gangs serve a multitude of purposes for their members. The gang becomes their family. They are able to trust them, rely on them, and the gang gives them a sense of self and importance. Gangs have the ability to offer status, refuge, protection, and opportunity of stigma free life within this population (Tower, 2013, p. 82). In the PBS show Interrupter ex-gang members and ex-gang enforcers joined together ...
In the United States gang membership has exploded over the last twenty years. According to 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are approximately 1.4 million gang members, and they account for 48% of all violent crimes and an increase of non-violent crimes nationwide (Wong, Tohn, Hung & Ang, 2013). Participation within a gang increases the likelihood of delinquent behavior and could produce negative effects on future life trajectories. Several theories at present consider antisocial attitudes an underlying factor towards gang membership. Risk factors such as peer association and family have an underlying effect on whether an adolescent becomes a member of a gang. Peers may provide negative influences, including antisocial views and aggressiveness that encourages delinquent behavior if not previously present (Howell & Egley, 2005). Additionally, gangs are no longer thought of as requiring lifelong membership as adolescents frequently transition out of them after one or two years (Howell & Egley, 2005). Transitions are important because they signal that an individual is altering his or her trajectory. Elder (1997) stated that trajectories are age-graded patterns of development with respect to major social institutions such as family, school and work that link “social and psychological states over a substantial portion of the life course” (as cited in Krohn, Ward, Thornberry, Lizotte & Chu, 2011). Numerous risk factors play a significant part in the development of future trajectories.